With USC campus visit under his belt, O-line target says decision could come soon

Offensive tackle Grayson Mains of Suwanee, Georgia took a pair of personal visits last week, and now he feels he can make an educated decision within the next couple of weeks.

He will still take multiple official visits after his decision. On Thursday, Mains (6-5, 265) was at Tennessee. Friday and Saturday he spent several hours on the USC campus.

“We got there about noon, 1 p.m. Friday and were able to tour campus and got the self-guided tour going,” Mains said. “It was great, a beautiful campus. We got to go see the outside of the facilities and the field. Man, that thing is amazing. Saturday morning, we were able to go over to the athletic housing and look around there, and really just finished up walking around campus and the downtown area.”

Prior to the pandemic Mains was able to get in some visits, and Tennessee and USC are the only places he’s seen since the NCAA dead period started last March. He liked a lot of what he saw in Knoxville and Columbia — but if he had to rank the visits, he’d put the USC trip on top.

“Probably number one, with Tennessee being very close because they are both beautiful campuses out of the places I’ve been to,” Mains said. “We really couldn’t get into anything (at Tennessee). We had to look from the outside through windows, but I mean it’s top-notch, D-1 program. They still looked amazing. I’ve also gotten to Duke, Michigan State and West Virginia before the pandemic.”

USC, Tennessee and Michigan State are the top three with Mains. Now that he’s been on each campus, he feels the time has come to get down to the business of making a decision.

“I definitely feels it helps speed up the process with finally being able to get on to campuses, seeing everything and trying to figure out what will be best for me,” Mains said. “I feel I could have a decision here within a week or two. One of the main things before I committed was just seeing the campuses. We’ve done all the virtual visits, so I’m just really going to go back into research about the college itself, the academics and the major I want to do, seeing what is a better fit for me because football only lasts so long — you’ve got to be able to do something after it. So whatever suits me best for that future and a lot of talking about it with my parents.”

USC and Tennessee are the top two with Mains as he moves toward making a decision.

“They’re both great staffs and they’re both new,” Mains said. “It will really be where I feel I can fit in best with the coaching staff who is showing that they really want me, that I’m a number one priority, and that they will be able to develop my skills over the next three to five years depending on how long I stay.”

Mains has set an official visit to USC for June 11 and is talking with Tennessee and Michigan State about visits as well.

Mains is rated a three-star and is ranked the No. 62 offensive tackle nationally in the 247Sports Composite.

Pennsylvania lineman likes fresh approach of Beamer staff

Offensive tackle Ryan Brubaker (6-6, 280) of Stevens, Pennsylvania is one of the top players in the country at his position in the 2022 class. He’s got a four-star rating in the 247Sports Composite and is ranked the No. 30 offensive tackle in the country. He quickly became a target for USC coach Shane Beamer when he took over the program, and area recruiter Pete Lembo and offensive line coach Greg Adkins have jumped right in as well..

“When they first started recruiting me, they did a an offensive staff Zoom with me and my family so we got to meet Coach Beamer, and by that point I had already met Coach Lembo, who recruits my area, and then also Coach Adkins,” Brubaker said. “I also got to meet some other people from the academic area and nutritionists, and got to meet Coach [Ryan] Day, the strength coach. South Carolina started off giving us a very good idea of what their staff makeup is. Since then I’ve been in touch with Coach Beamer, Coach Adkins, Coach Lembo and a few other coaches every now and then.”

Brubaker said he and Adkins have hit it off and are building a strong relationship, and that has more to do than with just football.

“Coach Adkins, he and I connected in our personal lives,” Brubaker said. “He’s experienced some things that I can understand and have experienced similar things. Outside of football, there’s that common understanding of other experiences. In a football sense, he’s relayed to me a big focus of theirs in recruiting is going to be to recruit a lot of character kids, obviously kids who can play in the SEC and play well. But for them, recruiting isn’t going to simply be determined by the number of stars and who is the biggest hit. It’s going to be a lot of who is going to bring solid character to our meeting rooms and who is going to be motivated, and really bring in kids who are like-minded and share values of hard work and discipline and want to play good football.”

Brubaker has other major offers from the likes of Penn State — where his father played — as well as Michigan, Auburn, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Nebraska, Virginia and Ole Miss. He’s also got several Ivy League teams on his list. Beamer and company are coming at him from the standpoint of a brand new program seeking a new identity. That’s connected with him.

“They are not trying to reinvent the wheel, they are trying to revitalize a program that struggled,” he said. “It’s not an easy task, the energy and enthusiasm and the approach of one day at a time. What’s appealing especially for me in a program like that, and really in any program, is the underlying emotional and spiritual support that Coach Beamer has brought in on his staff.”

Brubaker has four official visits set for June: Penn State on the 4th followed in consecutive weekends by USC, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Those visits will go a long way in determining his decision. After taking the June visits, and possibly a fifth later in the summer, Brubaker is hoping to make his decision before the start of his season.

Louisiana linebacker has Gamecocks’ eye

USC defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Clayton White is looking for physical linebackers who can run, and one he’s identified is Javae Gilmore (6-4, 200) of Amite, Louisiana. White offered Gilmore in early February and the two are keeping in touch primarily through FaceTime.

“He just called me and were talking and got along well,” Gilmore said of his first contact with White. “It’s just gone on from there. We’ve been contacting each other weekly. We stay in contact with each other and we have a good bond. He said my physicality and the way I’m around the ball (stood out). I think coach and I have a good connection.”

Gilmore is also sitting on offers from LSU, SMU, North Texas, South Alabama, Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana and Louisiana-Monroe. He’s not at the point where he’s ready to narrow the list.

“I don’t really know yet. The door is still open,” Gilmore said.

Gilmore is not rushing the process and said he won’t make a final commitment until the February signing day.

“I’m looking first at academics,” Gilmore said. “I want to major in business. And I want to be part of a good, built program that’s going to play as a team, a unit, not so much individual.”

Gilmore is rated a three-star in the 247Sports Composite and ranked the No. 30 outside linebacker nationally in the class. Last season in eight games, he had 58 tackles with five sacks and three interceptions, two he returned for touchdowns.

Recruiting notes

• USC offered linebacker Abdul Carter (6-4, 235) of Glenside, Pennsylvania, according to 247Sports. He’s rated a four star and ranked No. 21 nationally among outside linebackers. Some other offers are Penn State, Pitt, Southern Cal, Tennessee, Maryland, Michigan, LSU and Syracuse.
• USC offered 2023 defensive end Monteque Rhames (6-6, 240) of Sumter. He also has offers from Arizona State, N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Louisiana-Monroe.
• According to Stockrisers, 6-foot-7 CJ Felder of Sumter, who is transferring from Boston College, has heard from Clemson, USC, UConn, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Clemson, Xavier, Florida, Texas A&M, Murray State, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, LSU and Virginia.
• USC offered 2024 offensive tackle Kam Pringle (6-7, 295) of Woodland.
• Hammond running back C.J. Stokes has set official visits with Missouri for June 11 and Michigan June 18.